I enjoyed working on this Voicethread. I had never really worked with any technology like this before, so the it was all very much a learning experience for me. The most difficult portion for me was getting the pictures to upload to the website correctly. I had finished all of them before hand, but when I attempted to upload them to my Voicethread, only parts of the picture would turn up. However, after converting them to a different format, I had no further problems. I also didn't really have a problem recording my story to the Voicethread. Some slides I had to repeat because I stumbled over the words, but other than that, (and not really liking having to listen to my own voice), I had no major issues.
I feel that this technology could be very engaging in the classroom. I will admit, it is rather exciting to have your work come to life like this. However, I think that if I were going to use this in a classroom, I would try and make it into a group project. Because the process is so complex, I think it would work best to have a small group working on one Voicethread, instead of having one Voicethread per child. I know that if our class of college students struggled with portions of the assignment, then undoubtedly elementary school students would struggle too. In an elementary classroom, this assignment could be done by simply having the group vote on a story to use and then having each member be responsible for drawing and narrating one or two slides. In this way, students are able to experience every aspect of the technology, but are able to do so in an environment where help is readily available to them.
I enjoyed working on this Voicethread. I had never really worked with any technology like this before, so the it was all very much a learning experience for me. The most difficult portion for me was getting the pictures to upload to the website correctly. I had finished all of them before hand, but when I attempted to upload them to my Voicethread, only parts of the picture would turn up. However, after converting them to a different format, I had no further problems. I also didn't really have a problem recording my story to the Voicethread. Some slides I had to repeat because I stumbled over the words, but other than that, (and not really liking having to listen to my own voice), I had no major issues.
I feel that this technology could be very engaging in the classroom. I will admit, it is rather exciting to have your work come to life like this. However, I think that if I were going to use this in a classroom, I would try and make it into a group project. Because the process is so complex, I think it would work best to have a small group working on one Voicethread, instead of having one Voicethread per child. I know that if our class of college students struggled with portions of the assignment, then undoubtedly elementary school students would struggle too. In an elementary classroom, this assignment could be done by simply having the group vote on a story to use and then having each member be responsible for drawing and narrating one or two slides. In this way, students are able to experience every aspect of the technology, but are able to do so in an environment where help is readily available to them.